Bronze Age tin-bronze metalwork assemblages in Kent: Composition, distribution and context

The main objectives of this thesis are to analyse and discuss Bronze Age tin-bronze assemblages in Kent, the study area, with focus on their composition, distribution and context.

The purpose of this thesis is largely in response to Professor Richard Bradleys following statement;

‘All too often, studies of such deposits have been concerned with content rather than context. This is a tradition that can be traced at least as far back as the work of Sir John Evans (1881). Since so little is known about the circumstance in which this material was deposited, it is perhaps a moot point whether such chronologies can be entirely reliable, but in the present account they are followed for want of anything better.’ (Bradley, 1998, 13)

The corpus of data comprises 66 assemblages identified in the subject area, given in Chapter 3 in the form of Datasheets and in the Appendices, in the form of graphs, a Compendium of Assemblages and maps. Comparisons are also made in relation to distribution alongside Bronze Age settlement, monuments and topographical data.

The thesis includes Methodology for collation of the corpus of research, followed by Distribution, Analysis, Assemblages in Retrospect and Current Thinking, Discussion and a Conclusion. The Discussion focuses on context of assemblages and metalworking from the subject area and the Bronze Age in northern Europe.

The Conclusion draws largely on the Analysis and data compiled from the Appendices, which have provided some fascinating and unexpected results that will hopefully provide further impetus for academic discussion and deliberation.

The thesis also recommends some further areas of research that would be of great benefit, particularly in the realm of non-destructive metallurgical analysis.